


Professional Relationship

by katling



Series: Tony Stark Bingo [16]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, I didn't mean to be so mean to him here, I'm moderating this one just to be safe, M/M, Not Steve Friendly, Steve Is Delusional, Team Tony, Tony and Jan sitting in a tree, conglomeration of Marvel universes, honest!, honestly I have no idea what's going on here, k i s s i n g
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 15:34:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18943855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katling/pseuds/katling
Summary: Steve catches up on the latest news from the New Avengers and he doesn't like what he sees.Written for the Tony Stark Bingo 2019 - Square A4:Picture from the comics of Tony Stark and Janet Van Dyne kissing





	Professional Relationship

**Author's Note:**

> Wow. This one took a serious left turn into creepy-ville on me. *LOL* I actually meant to go with sad!Steve ruing missed opportunities but instead I ended up with creepy delusional Steve.
> 
> Also, this is a mashup of at least 3 Marvel universes - the MCU, whatever universe has Tony and Jan kissing and just a soupçon from Avengers Academy. Don't ask me to explain how I shoved all of that together. I just don't know. My brain was clearly in a very weird place today.

The sound of smashing glass caught Sam, Scott and Clint’s attention and they hurried into the common room of their accommodation in Wakanda. They came to a halt just inside the door as they took in the sight in front of them. Steve was standing, staring at the television, the remains of a broken glass clutched in his clenched hand. Blood dripped from his fist and his expression was a combination of devastated and furious.

The three men turned towards the TV to see what had set Steve off and their eyes widened. On the screen was a still image of Tony Stark in his Iron Man armour sans his helmet which was dangling from the finger of the woman he was kissing. Tony had his arm wrapped around the woman’s waist and she had her free hand in his hair and they looked utterly besotted and uncaring of the photographer who had taken the photo.

They quickly tuned into what was being said by the presenter of whatever show this was.

“…was taken after the New Avengers’ recent battle against Doom and his Doombots. Tony Stark and Janet Van Dyne have yet to make a public statement but both Stark Industries and Van Dyne Fashions have confirmed the relationship between the two superheroes. Maria Hill, spokeswoman for the Avengers Initiative, had this to say about the question of a possible conflict of interest.”

The picture changed to show Maria Hill obviously standing outside the revamped Compound. She looked sombre and serious but there was an air about her that made them think she was highly amused by all of the fuss.

“The Avengers Initiative’s code of conduct and regulations do cover such a relationship,” she said dryly. “However, neither Colonel Rhodes nor Colonel Danvers are concerned about it. As everyone knows, Iron Man and the Wasp are two of the most professional members of the Initiative and as was proven during the battle against Doctor Doom, their relationship had no effect on their ability to make the hard decisions.”

There was a low murmur from the crowd of journalists and Sam nodded slightly. “Stark was in command for that one, wasn’t he?” he said in a low voice. “He didn’t hesitate to send Van Dyne into danger when they needed her shrinking abilities and she didn’t chase after him when he got into trouble because she was busy shielding civilians at that point. Guess Hill’s right.”

Clint’s jaw tightened but he didn’t say anything. He’d been one of the most vociferous proponents of the idea that the New Avengers would fail if Stark was a field commander but time and many successful battles and missions had proven Clint completely and utterly wrong. Stark was a brilliant commander and when given the responsibility of command, he tended to be less likely to go off script and disobey orders or be out of position at any time. Sam had scoffed at first but once he’d started really examining the battles, he had noticed that Stark didn’t go off script because he didn’t need to. He seemed to be able to predict how things would go with an almost freakish level of accuracy. He’d never thought of Stark as being a tactical genius but he was starting to re-evaluate that.

Scott, on the other hand, just looked sad. He’d been thrilled when it had been announced that Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne had somehow pulled Janet Van Dyne out of the quantum realm relatively unharmed and genuinely sympathetic when it turned out that while twenty years had passed in the real world, for Jan, as she preferred to be known now, only 20 hours had passed and as a result, her marriage to Hank had irretrievably broken down. They were just too different now. The divorce had been amicable enough however and Jan had gone on to join the New Avengers as the Wasp, with her daughter in a similar suit taking the name Hornet. Nobody seemed to care about Ant-Man anymore, least of all the Pyms and Van Dynes.

The picture on the TV changed again, this time showing San Francisco in the background and a rather disgruntled Hank Pym front and centre. 

“Guess Stark must be better than I thought he was,” Hank was saying, clearly having been caught on his way somewhere. “Jan wouldn’t get involved with someone who was an ass.” Suddenly, shockingly, he grinned. “Unless it was me.” He grimaced and shrugged as he opened the door to the car. “If they’re happy, I wish them well.”

The picture now changed to various public reaction but they were drowned out by Steve’s sudden and almost frighteningly growl. “How dare he do this to me?”

Clint, Sam and Scott were all startled and they stared at Steve in surprise. Fury was written all over Steve’s face and now both hands were clenched into fists. Blood still dripped from the hand that had held the glass and it made for an unnerving picture.

“I didn’t know he and Stark were a thing,” Scott whispered nervously.

Sam was silent for a moment as he eyed Steve warily. “They weren’t,” he finally admitted, carefully keeping his voice low. “I mean, there was some sort of thing going on but… after Ultron, it seemed pretty much over on Stark’s side at least. We didn’t see him much after that and when he was there, it was pretty quick and perfunctory and he left as fast as he could.”

The TV show had gone back to the studio by this time and the photo of Tony and Jan kissing was once again back on show. It seemed to rile Steve up even more and he took a step towards the TV before squaring his shoulders and seemingly coming to a decision.

“Suit up,” he barked. “We’re going home. He’s not going to get away with this.”

Almost in unison, Clint, Sam and Scott took a step backwards.

“What?” Sam said. “Steve… we can’t…”

Steve whirled around and there was a manic look in his eyes that had the three men taking another step backwards. “You’re either with me or against me,” he snarled. “Which one is it?”

Sam exchanged glances with Clint and Scott and saw the same worry in Scott’s eyes and a growing realisation in Clint’s. They both nodded and Sam swallowed hard.

“We’re with you, Steve, you know that,” he said soothingly. He nudged Scott and Clint. “We’ll just… go and get our stuff and get Natasha and Wanda.”

Steve nodded and turned back to the TV. The moment his attention was off them, Sam and the others scrambled out of the door, not towards their rooms but in the direction of the rest of the palace and T’Challa in the hopes of a solution that didn’t end in bloodshed.


End file.
